City in Hungary
24 things to see8 of them free
Budapest is one of Central Europe’s best value capitals: a grand riverside city where the strongest sights cost nothing. The whole Castle District is free to wander, and the climb up Gellert Hill to the Citadella and Liberty Statue rewards you with the best panorama of the Danube and Parliament without a ticket. The lower terraces and walkways of Fisherman’s Bastion are free, as is a stroll along the river between the Chain Bridge and Parliament at dusk. Margaret Island, a leafy park set in the middle of the Danube, costs nothing to enter and makes an easy escape from the crowds. Budapest’s major state museums waive admission for everyone on the national holidays of March 15, August 20, and October 23, so timing a visit around one of those dates stretches a budget further. The thermal baths and ruin bars of the Jewish Quarter run cheap by Western European standards, and shoulder season in April to early June or September to October brings mild weather and lower room rates than the summer peak. Easy budget add-ons by train include Vienna and Bratislava on the Danube, with Prague within reach for a longer Central European loop.
What to see
8 of these cost nothing at all.
Continental Europe's oldest metro line, built in 1896, runs directly under Andrassy Avenue from the city center to Heroes' Square. Above it, the boulevard was laid out simultaneously as Budapest's answer to the Champs-Elysees: Neo-Renaissance palaces and mansions, the Hungarian State Opera House, luxury shops, and 2.5 kilometers of plane trees.
Buda Castle has been destroyed and rebuilt at least six times, which makes the Baroque (meaning the ornate 17th-18th century style of the Habsburg empire) palace visible today something of an illusion: it was shelled in 1686 when the Habsburgs retook it from the Ottomans, nearly obliterated in the 1944-1945 siege, and then gutted by the Communist government
Tram 2 runs along the Pest side of the Danube from Jaszai Mari Square to the National Theatre, passing the Parliament, the Chain Bridge, the Vigado Concert Hall, and the Central Market Hall. A standard transit ticket covers the ride.
The Chain Bridge (Szechenyi Lanchid) was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Budapest, connecting Clark Adam Square on the Buda side to Roosevelt Square on the Pest side. Free to cross.
City Park (Varosliget) is the green space behind Heroes' Square, home to the Szechenyi Baths, Vajdahunyad Castle (a whimsical mix of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture, free to walk the grounds), and a boating lake that becomes an ice rink in winter. Free.
The Dohany Street Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe, seating nearly 3,000 people, with twin 43-meter onion-domed towers visible from much of the seventh district. Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Saens played the original 5,000-pipe organ at the 1859 inauguration.
Elisabeth Square (Erzsebet ter) is a public square on the Pest side near the Deak Ferenc transport hub, with a park, a Ferris Wheel, and open-air cafes. Free.
The Gellert Baths are an Art Nouveau thermal bath complex at the base of Gellert Hill, with indoor marble pools, an outdoor wave pool, and a rooftop sun terrace. Entry is paid (cheaper on weekdays, cheaper with locker instead of cabin).
Gellert Hill rises steeply from the Buda side of the Danube, crowned by the Citadella fortress and the Liberty Statue. Free to hike.
Gozsdu Udvar is a chain of seven connected courtyards running between Kiraly utca and Dob utca in the Jewish Quarter. Free to walk through.
The largest and oldest indoor market in Budapest, built in 1897 with a distinctive Zsolnay-tiled roof. The ground floor is a working food market (paprika, sausage, foie gras). The upper level has food stalls and souvenirs. Located at the Pest end of Liberty Bridge. The best single-stop food orientation in Budapest.
Heroes' Square (Hosok tere) was built in 1896 to celebrate a thousand years since the Magyar tribes settled the Carpathian Basin, and every element of its design was chosen to make Hungary's antiquity visible on paper. The Archangel Gabriel atop the 36-meter column holds the Holy Crown of St.
The Hungarian Parliament Building is 268 meters long, has 691 rooms, and stands exactly 96 meters tall: a number chosen deliberately to match the year 896 AD, when the Magyar tribes first settled the Carpathian Basin.
Green Art Nouveau bridge connecting Gellert Square to the Great Market Hall, built for the 1896 Millennium celebrations. The Turul birds on the bridge towers are a Hungarian mythological symbol. One of the most photogenic river crossings in Europe, especially at sunset.
Liberty Square (Szabadsag ter) is a large public square between the Parliament and St Stephen's Basilica, surrounded by grand buildings including the former Stock Exchange and the US Embassy. Free.
A 2.5-kilometer green island in the middle of the Danube, largely car-free. Features include a musical fountain, ruins of a 13th-century Dominican convent, Palatinus Strand pool complex, and a Japanese garden. The best escape from summer heat without leaving the city center.
Officially the Church of Our Lady, this Gothic church on Castle Hill served as the coronation church for Hungarian kings. The interior was repainted in the 19th century with geometric and floral patterns. The Zsolnay ceramic roof tiles are visible from across the river. Shares the terrace with Fisherman's Bastion.
The ruin bar concept began in 2002 when Szimpla Kert opened in an abandoned factory in Budapest's seventh district, the old Jewish quarter of Erzsébetváros. The idea was straightforward: take a derelict building, add mismatched furniture and eclectic decoration, keep the prices low, and open the courtyard. The formula spread.
The Rumbach Street Synagogue is a Moorish Revival building designed by Otto Wagner in 1872, recently restored and reopened as a cultural venue and exhibition space. Entry is paid at a modest price.
Sixty pairs of cast-iron shoes stand at the edge of the Pest embankment, positioned exactly as their owners once stood before being shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in the winter of 1944-1945. The shoes are period-accurate 1940s styles: men's work boots, women's heels, children's shoes, each pair individually different.
Budapest's largest church was built to be exactly 96 meters tall, the same height as the Parliament building across the Danube, to encode a symbolic equality of church and state into the city skyline. The Neo-Classical interior holds Hungary's most sacred relic, the Holy Right Hand of St. Stephen, the 11th-century king who Christianized Hungary.
The Szechenyi Thermal Bath is the only major historic bath on the Pest side of Budapest, which means it gets the crowds, but also means it is the one you can reach without crossing the Danube from the inner city.
Szimpla Kert invented the ruin bar format in 2002, moved to its current location in a derelict former factory on Kazinczy Street in Budapest's old Jewish quarter in 2004, and has been the most visited bar in Hungary ever since.
Tihany is a small peninsula on the northern shore of Lake Balaton with a Benedictine Abbey (founded 1055), lavender fields, and views across Hungary's inland sea. Free to walk the village and trails.
On foot
Tip-based tours and self-guided routes, which is usually the cheapest orientation there is.
The Danube Night Walk is a self-guided evening walk along the Pest embankment when Budapest's landmarks are illuminated. Free. The Chain Bridge, the Shoes on the Danube memorial, and the Parliament building lit in gold make this the defining first-evening experience for budget travelers in Budapest.
The TriptoBudapest General Walk is a free walking tour covering both sides of the Danube in 2.5 hours, running since 2008 and one of the most established free tours in Central Europe. Budget travelers book the morning slot and pair it with a thermal bath visit in the afternoon.
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